


We've Got Laughter to Keep Us Warm

by FantasticalSpectacle



Category: Pathfinder (RPG)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Modern AU, golarion, golarion pantheon, modern golarion, pathfinder pantheon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-07
Updated: 2016-01-20
Packaged: 2018-04-08 02:14:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4286886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FantasticalSpectacle/pseuds/FantasticalSpectacle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Calistria and Shelyn make a game out of pretending to be mortals once a year on Longnight, the festival where everyone tries to stay up all night during one of the longest nights of the year to "defy the darkness of winter and stay up to greet the dawn." It's not really a challenge to stay up all night since they're deities and all, but it is fun.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Just Dropping In

In her millennia, Calistria had ample time to perfect an array less-than-honorable skills. Lock picking was one of those skills. She was perched out on a fire escape, wearing the form of a mortal elven woman with a messy bun and clunky boots. It was evening, and early sunset of a winter evening was beginning to set in. Light glinted off icicles and frosted metal, reflecting tiny flecks of gold light all over the wall next to her. She gave a wolfish grin as the latch on the window popped open, allowing her to slip inside. She stepped into the apartment, padding quietly like a cat.

"I don't see why you felt the need to break in." A voice teased from the apartment kitchenette.

She shrugged, walking into the room.

"I mean, even if you didn't feel like just appearing in my house, I did give you a key to avoid situations like this."

"I just think breaking in is more fun, okay?"

"See, this is why you've got such a bad rep."

"I've got a bad rep because I send cat-sized wasps to sting the pricks of those who anger me."

"Well, that too." Cayden laughed, pushing something around in a cast iron pan with a wooden spoon. It filled the apartment with a homey smell.

Calistria opened the fridge and plucked out a can of Tian beer, cracking the tab. She leaned against his counter, glancing at a calendar on the wall as she sipped. It was a novelty cat calendar, with a little kitten dressed as the god each month was named after. It was still pinned to Kuthona, the image on the calendar one of a surly hairless cat with beady eyes in a red cape. She had to admit that was a little cute.

"Your calendar's stuck to the wrong month, idiot."

"Huh?" He turned around, squinting. "Huh, guess it is. My bad."

Calistria traced a finger along the calendar. The only circled date was the 11th, the 11th of Kuthona marking yet another anniversary of Cayden’s ascension. The god had drawn little smiley faces and what she supposed was supposed to be a party hat and noisemaker on it. She unpinned the calendar and took it off the wall, folding it up. She set down her can and smiled a little as she flipped through the calendar. Abadar was a brown ragamuffin cat presiding over bags of money. She was a sleek shorthair with a locket under her paws. She snorted. Some of these wry depictions would’ve been considered sacrilege centuries ago, but mortals had gotten a little bolder as of late. Some of the gods stressed about it, and she was sure that on some level she was a little offended. At the same time, though, it was on some level entertaining. She shrugged and started to tear out the page for Kuthona.

“Hey, hey, what’re you doing with my calendar?” Cayden whipped around, pointing at her accusingly with a wooden spoon.

She rolled her eyes. “It’s old. It’s a new year, Cayden.”

“Right, suppose it is. Why’re you tearing it up, though?”

“Thought Shelyn’d get a kick out of the last cat in it.”

“You sure it’s not too harsh?”

“Whattya mean?”

He shrugged, leaning against the sink. “Y’know, like, “hey here’s a funny cat that’s styled after your estranged half-brother who you still have some really fraught emotional problems with” seems a little insensitive, doesn’t it?"

She scoffed. “Because I’m known for being sensitive.” She finished tearing out the page. “Besides, she’s got a thicker skin with these things than you think.”

“I mean, I’m just trying to be nice.”

“Nice isn’t my thing. It’s fine. It’s no big deal.”

“Nice may not be your thing, but it sure is with her.” He crossed his arms like he had just said something clever.

She gave him a sideways look and “What’re you getting at, you little-”

“Hey, hey, I’m not trying to start a fight. I just mean, well....” He gave a proud grin.

“Oh no. We’re not having this conversation.” She waved a manicured finger at him.

“You never have any notable conversations.”

She blew a raspberry. “Suuuuuure. Get grumpy with me of all people for not being emotionally open. You’re totally not wasting your time.”

It was Cayden’s turn to roll his eyes then. He turned back to the food sizzling on the skillet, poking at some onions. “So are you and her doing that thing of yours?”

“You’ll have to be more specific.”

“Y’know, like, you and Shelyn always do on Longnight for the last couple hundred years. Go and play mortal for a night and talk or whatever.”

“Yeah, yeah I’m meeting her after I bolt outta here.”

He nodded and “Don’t cause too much trouble.”

“I can’t with her around. She wouldn’t stand for it. I mean, she may be all sugary and such but that woman can guilt trip.”

He laughed again. She glared. “What’s so funny this time?”

“The mighty, unfeeling, capricious Calistria is capable of being guilt tripped. That’s hilarious.”

She snorted, a little bit of a buzzing noise making its way out. “Yeah, whatever. Anyway, I should get what I came here for.”

“You came here for a reason?”

“Had to get the coat I left here last time I was playing mortal. The one with the spikes on the shoulders.”

“It’s in the closet.”

“Awwwww, how nice of you to hang it up.” She planted a peck on his cheek, leaving a mark that was sticky like honey.

He lifted his shoulder to wipe it off, sticking his tongue out. “That was unnecessary.”

“What? I’m just being nice.” She sneered, walking back in with her coat. She slipped on, the black fabric fitting snugly over her shoulders. She walked back to the window, heels clicking on the hardwood floor. She pried the window back open and crawled back outside. She blew gently on the frosted window, her holy symbol appearing immaculately and suddenly in the thin layer of ice. She grinned to herself before crawling down the fire escape. This was going to be a fun night.


	2. Long Time No See, Huh?

Calistria found Shelyn where she always found her. They had chosen a spot by the river when they first started spending Longnight together, and whatever the mortals built near that spot would become their meeting place. It was a tree, then it was a garden after a few years. The garden was followed by a library, the library by an inn, the inn by a theatre, and the theatre finally by the teahouse that now stood there. Shelyn was sitting outside at a metal table, a half eaten muffin in front of her and a mostly-gone clear glass pot of tea. She was doodling on herself with a ballpoint pen, creating intricate works of art on her skin. Flowers bloomed and their petals interlocked with geometric designs. A sword was carefully etched on her right arm and stretched down to her wrist. The detail was incredible, especially since it was just idle doodles. Then again, nothing drawn by the goddess of art could really ever be an idle doodle.

Calistria sat down across from Shelyn, the chair screeching audibly as she did.

“If you say anything about ink poisoning I’m gonna kick you.” Shelyn managed to say with a straight face, not looking up from her work.

“Ah, hells. There goes my intro joke.” She smirked, resting her elbows on the table and leaning in closer. “Honestly, though, those look good.”

“Thanks. Only ended up drawing them ‘cause you were running late. I like them, though. Good template.” She set down the pen and stared down at her arms. She closed her eyes and willed the ink away, leaving full-color sleeve tattoos in the same design as the doodles. The gods could edit and warp their mortal forms at will, with a little effort of course. As the goddess of art and beauty, Shelyn was particularly fond of that little trick. “Look good?”

“Yeah, yeah definitely. Also, sorry I was late.”

Shelyn rolled her eyes. “You’re not sorry.”

“Okay, you’ve got me, I’m not.” She leaned back in her chair, propping her feet up on the table. “Wanna hear why I was late, though?”

“You leaving scuff marks.” Shelyn huffed. “But yeah, sure. I’m curious.”

“Had to stop by Cayden’s and pick up my jacket.”

“The spiky one? With the?” Shelyn gestured to her shoulders.

“The one with epaulets, yeah. Plus, I just wanted to drop in and all that. Also- I snagged this.” She pulled the folded up calendar page out of her bag, handing it to Shelyn.

“What’s tha-” She unfolded the paper, “Oh, that’s- that’s bad.” She barely held in a giggle at the sight of her brother’s cat likeness. “That’s really bad.” She hid a grin behind her hand.

“I thought you’d get a kick out of that.”

“It’s clever, I’ll give them that.” She handed the calendar page back. “But like, can we- can we destroy that now? It’s giving me the creeps.”

Calistria nodded and whipped out a lighter, burning the page on the spot. “So, where to first?”

“I’m not entirely sure. Maybe ride the subway a bit and just talk? I like to get that out of the way before it gets too...weird. Plus, I don’t exactly want a repeat of three years ago.”

“Is this about that one guy?”

“You willed him to jump in front of a train!”

“Well he was being a creep to you.”

“Doesn’t mean you had to kill him. That wasn’t a proportional response.”

“I’m the goddess of vengeance, darling, not proportional response.”

“Fair enough. Can’t blame you for being you.” She paid for her snack and left roughly a 50% tip. Calistria smiled at that.

“Abadar must’ve just felt a chill pass over him.”

“What, because I tip so well? Whatever. Money doesn’t matter to us, might as well make their day, y’know? Besides, the waitress was a really sweet girl.” She stood up, pushing the chair back in. “Ready?”

“As always.”

They began to walk towards the nearest subway station, falling into a comfortable silence. The only sound made by either of them was the steady flip-slap flip-slap of Shelyn’s rainbow dollar store sandals.

“Aren’t you kinda drawing attention to yourself by wearing flip-flops in the dead of winter?”

“I guess so, but not in a revealing ourselves way y’know? I mean, at most they’ll figure that I’m an aasimar or something. I’ll seem an appropriate level of out of place.”

“Guess so.” Calistria shrugged, looking at the storefront windows as they passed. She was doing her best to look apathetic.

“Why do you take the whole blending in thing seriously, anyway? You always seem to be really purposeful about it.”

“I always figured that was part of the fun of it, y’know? People passing me on the street not know that I’m- that I’m what I am. It’s a charade. It’s exciting. Suppose that’s just me though.”

“I suppose so. But I don’t think that’s necessarily bad, y’know? The fact that it’s just you? Because charades are kinda who you are, y’know? It falls under your portfolio.”

“Yeah, you make a good point.”

“Although... “ Shelyn bit down on her lip, deep in thought. Calistria held in an exasperated sigh. Not the lip biting. Not the stupid, endearing, dumb, cute lip biting. It was a thing with her. “I guess you’re not actually the only one! Because, like, Cayden’s been doing some more anonymous stuff lately. Like, anonymously helping people home when they clearly shouldn’t be driving , getting in fights on behalf of people, or helping wasted couples solve disputes at parties- he does stuff like that. In the past he probably would’ve left some deific calling card, y’know? Not now though. Maybe it’s a sign of maturity or something. I dunno, it’s like he’s really taken to protecting people from around here.”

Calistria laughed. “Maybe Abadar should watch his back. New god of cities in toooooown!” She whooped.

“No, I don’t think so. Or like, I don’t think it’s like that. Like, Abbie is like, city halls and municipal stuff and politics and stock exchanges but like, Cayden is bodegas and playing in a fire hydrant spray and really really good street meat and ice skating with someone you really like in the winter and drinking terrible hot chocolate.”

“So like, the human parts of cities?”

“Yeah, yeah that!” Shelyn’s face lit up. “You get it, Cal. You get me.”

Calistria gave a smile at that. “Suppose so. So, how are you suddenly familiar enough with Abadar to start calling him Abbie?”

“Well, it’s a recent thing you see. And it’s also not a familiarity thing. I figured since he’s always so diminutive with me- like, calling me dear and sweetheart and stuff- then I should be condescending and diminutive with him.”

“Seems like I’m rubbing off on you, doll.”

“Am not! I chose to do that of my own free will.”

“Whatever you say.” She liked the idea of her personality rubbing off on Shelyn, and that made her feel terrible inside. In a way, wasn't that no better than what the other even less scrupulous deities wanted?

They made their way down clammy gum-encrusted concrete stairs into the subway station. Calistria moved at a very fast, purposeful pace down the stairs while Shelyn took her time. Calistria was waiting for her at the bottom, tapping her foot.

“What beauty could you find in a gross subway stairway?”

“I dunno. Never hurts to look, though.”

“Is this the line that turns into a light rail eventually?”

“I think so? I hope so. Maybe.”

Calistria groaned. “We’re older than this whole subway network. We ride it every single year. And you still don’t know which line is which?”

“Honestly, Cal? I think public transit operates on a level that even we goddesses can’t comprehend.” She stuffed her hands into the pockets of a newly-materialized cardigan that still sparkled a bit with holy magic. “Besides, you’re the one asking me.” She huffed.

“Touché, birdie, touché.” She ran a card through the reader on the turnstile and passed through without a hitch. Shelyn didn’t even bother with a card, she just passed through.

They stood on the platform, idly swaying with hands in pockets like their fellow passengers-to-be. Calistria looked around, examining the other people. Oh, how she loved people watching.

An orc woman in business casual attire and a small white plastic bag in hand leaned exhausted against a pillar. Calistria didn’t even have to read her mind to know that she was having a rough week and working Longnight probably didn’t help. Maybe the plastic container of ramen and bottled tea in her bag would cheer her up. Two Tian girls talked loudly and excitedly. Both were dressed for a night out and talking way louder than was polite. The only thing louder than their voices were the neon shades of their attire. Maybe they had been pregaming? They had puffy paint acronyms all over their clothes, sorority sisters maybe? An elderly Ulfen woman with horn-rimmed glasses sat next to a little half-elf boy on an old bench. They both had bags from one of the big, touristy, gimmick shops in another part of town. Grandma and grandson on a day trip, most likely.

While Calistria was trying to figure out the mortals on the platform with them, Shelyn’s gaze was fixed on the tracks in front of them. Three tracks in, among garbage and old concrete pillars, a form gradually appeared. A translucent girl with gossamer, soaked hair and dripping clothes stood with her shoulders hunched. A crown of wilting water lilies rested on her head. She slowly looked up, staring the goddesses down as she saw right through their human shells.

Shelyn’s shoulders fell and it felt like a rock dropped in her stomach. Her throat tightened and her chest ached. Creeping dread mixed with horror and sadness to form a day-ruining cocktail of emotions.

“Naderi.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So hey, made it to the second chapter! That's a good sign, right?
> 
> I don't know for sure how often I'll be updating this, but once a month seems like the pattern? 
> 
> If you wanna see little headcanons and tidbits of info that go into writing this...thing, I post stuff about the fic on my tumblr at cephalopodcosmonaut.tumblr.com . The tag for this fic is, unsurprisingly, "we've got laughter to keep us warm" 
> 
> Thanks for reading! Hope you have a lovely day/week/month/year/life


	3. Fancy Seeing You Here

Calistria pulled herself out of her thoughts when the train arrived. She reflexively took Shelyn by the hand as they entered the train and sat down in an empty seat. She didn’t realized the shaken expression on Shelyn’s face until they sat down. She put her hand on Shelyn’s shoulder, turning the other goddess to face her. “Hey, Shel, sweetie, are you okay? Something happen while we were on the platform? You get a prayer-bomb or something.”

Shelyn shook her head and screwed her eyes shut. She was quiet for a moment before letting out a breath. “No I...I think I saw Naderi.”

 

Calistria seemed to bristle at the mere mention of the name. Pre-apotheosis, she hadn’t thought much of the girl. After the morose goddess’s ascension and centuries of emotional turmoil between her and Shelyn, however, she had learned to hate the name. ”You mean on the platform?”

“No, no. She wasn’t playing mortal. I saw something like a projection of her, I guess, between the train platforms. I think she saw me too, only for a moment.” Shelyn furrowed her brow, trying to think of why her ex-attendant would have appeared to her. “Maybe she was trying to reach out to me?”

Shelyn could construct just about any interaction with Naderi as her reaching you to her, as a cry for help. It had been centuries since Naderi went from being one of Shelyn’s underlings to a goddess in her own right- the goddess of romantic tragedy, forbidden love, and suicide specifically. Ever since, a rift existed between the two. Shelyn had spent the intermittent centuries convincing herself that the rift was her fault, that it was up to her to mend the relationship. 

Calistria had spent a lot of that time trying to assure Shelyn that no, it wasn’t her fault that things had soured between her and Naderi. She still remembered with perfect clarity having to comfort a tearful Shelyn many a time. At this point, she wasn’t directing her infamous ill wishes towards Naderi so much because of her initial actions, but because said actions had hurt Shelyn. Calistria could still feel a few flickers, a few sparks of characteristic anger come to life in her chest whenever Naderi came up-- the same kind of anger that caused her to set wasps on people, destroy livelihoods, and raze a city or two to the ground. Was her response proportional? Not particularly. Did she really care? Not particularly. 

“I don’t really think so, sorry sweetheart. I’m pretty sure she was just haunting the station because it’s her domain. Plenty of people have probably thrown themselves in front of trains down here over the years.

Shelyn winced. “Didn’t really need that image, but I get what you’re going for. You’re right. She’s probably just...doing her job.” Shelyn stared straight ahead, looking a bit deflated.

“Do you need a-?”  
Shelyn hugged her before she could finish her sentence. She wrapped her arms around her, resting her head on Shelyn’s. Her hair smelled like sunshine, earl gray tea, and cherry blossoms. Just what one would expect from the goddess of love, art, beauty, and all those mostly-pleasant things. She patted back gently, going quiet for a while. Neither of them said anything for a while, ambient subway noise filling in the gaps. 

“Even though it’s been centuries, I still can’t think about her without feeling...I don’t know exactly how to describe it. Some sort of cocktail of guilt and loss I suppose.”

“I know, birdie, I know.” She combed her hands through Shelyn’s hair, slowly and rhythmically. 

Shelyn smiled at that. “Let’s- let’s change the subject. This is our night to enjoy ourselves, yeah?”

“Exactly. Not every night we can slip away from our realms like this.” She rubbed her shoulder, hoping that she wasn’t being too touchy. “Any of our old haunts in particular you wanna visit?”

“Heh, haunts. Good one there.” She laughed a little, gazing out the window. The subway tunnel was dark and mostly featureless, but every now and then she could see ancient catacombs through holes in the brick. “There was- there’s that one place, the one with the- they used to put little blue umbrellas in all the drinks?”

“Wow. So specific, Shellie.” 

“Shut up, you know the one I mean.”

“Do I, though?” Callie grinned. She always got a kick out of teasing the other goddess. 

“You do! I just- The Peacock! It’s called the Peacock. Or at least it used to be, like, thirty years ago?”

“Oh, the year we-”

“We broke the neon sign because you throw your shoe at it!”

“Right, I remember now. Why did I do that?”

“You said you could.”

“Sounds about right.” She leaned in a bit, about to rest her head on Shelyn’s before pulling herself back. She was being so clingy. Too clingy, even. She reined herself in. The last thing she wanted to do was make her uncomfortable. Sometimes, she felt like she needed to handle Shelyn like a glass figurine. She knew, probably better than everyone else with the exception of her brother, what Shelyn was capable of. It wasn’t any supposed fragility on Shelyn’s part that scared her. She was afraid that the bad, the less desirable, the morally gray parts of her would rub off on the other goddess. She’d never admit it, but the thought scared her. 

Shelyn noticed her pulling away, and paused for a second before resting her head on Calistria’s shoulder. Calistria couldn’t tell if the trust was reassuring or just made her feel worse.

 

Eventually they reached the stop before the Peacock and made their way out of the subway tunnel. Shelyn’s cardigan fluttered in the winter wind as they ascended, and Calistria couldn’t help but smile as the other goddess twirled. They walked the quasi-familiar route, finding exactly where the Peacock used to be. Unfortunately, they did not find the same establishment. The address was correct, but in the Peacock’s place stood a faux-rustic sign emblazoned with “Nixie’s Wing Gastropub”.

Calistria narrowed her eyes. “What in all the hells is a gastropub?”

“S’like a restaurant pub thing that’s trying to be fancy.”

“That’s stupid.”

“I mean, I guess but it’s...I mean, it’ll still be the interiors of the Peacock.”

“I guess.” 

They walked inside, and sat down at a booth in the corner. Shelyn ordered something ridiculous, something pink and garnished with five different fruits as garnish and that was also on fire. Calistria just got something with honey in it, because she may not be a proportional goddess but she is sometimes a predictable one.

She rested her head in her hand and smudged her eyeliner in the process. She huffed. “Be right back.”

“You can always just magically fix it, y’know.”

“I know, I know. i just like the process of it.”

Calistria pushed an outdated, borderline-tacky bead curtain out of the way as she made her way back to the bathroom. The beads clak-ed together, their sound somehow standing out against the din of the bar. She glanced at the warm, wood-panelled walls. She remembered standing back here fifty years ago, her and Shelyn hiding behind a forest of coats and giggling. She set her hand on the bathroom doorknob, feeling a chill shoot up her arm as soon as she touched it. She knew in that instant that she and Shelyn weren’t the only gods playing mortal around here. She steeled herself, wondering which of her deific colleagues was on the other side of that door. She pushed it open in a quick, decisive motion.

Leaning close to a mirror with one knee on the sink was a pallid woman with choppy, sleek black hair that hung limp, motionless like a funeral shroud. She was in a tank top the color of dried blood, one strap hanging off of a bony shoulder. Smokey eyeshadow was caked around her eyes like week old scabs, and Calistria couldn’t tell if it was actually a couple days old or purposefully applied to look that way. She was wearing skeleton-print leggings and platform lace-up shoes that had been painted to look like they bore smiling mouths overflowing with teeth. 

Oh, great. Of all the people it could’ve been, it just had to be her. To most passerby, she would’ve just seemed like a particularly unnerving goth girl. More spiritually-aware mortals would’ve been able to pick up on a distinct evil air about her, but would probably vastly underestimate who she actually was. Unfortunately, Calistria was very aware of who she was. Urgathoa, the Pallid Princess, whatever you called her she had been a huge thorn in Calistria’s side for the last couple decades.

“Well, hello there. Didn’t expect to see you ‘round these parts.” She giggled wheezily to herself, turning to look at Calistria. Her painted lips curled into a smirk. Even though she had condensed herself into a squishy little mortal form, a pervasive feeling of pure Wrong filled the bathroom. The waves of discomfort coming off of her couldn’t get to Calistria but she felt them at the edges of her form. It was like sitting on a beach with the waves just barely touching your feet as they rolled in.

 

“Didn’t expect to see you either.” Calistria muttered back.

“It’s a pleasant surprise, though. We haven’t talked in aaaaages.”

“Not an accident, bag o’ bones.”

“Wow. Suuuch a creative nickname.” She rolls her eyes and steps away from the sink. “You look pissy. What’s wrong, Callie-bee?” 

“Wasn’t expecting to see you here, and really I could’ve gone the whole night without knowing you were lurking here.”

She crossed her arms and huffed. The smell of rotting meat tickled Calistria’s nose. “I don’t get why you’re being so harsh with me, honestly. I was under the impression we got along alright.”

Calistria couldn’t point the exact point at which being around Urgathoa had started leaving such a bad taste in her mouth. They had never been friends per say, but on the occasions where Calistria would indulge the less-moral parts of herself she used to rely on Urgathoa for company in those times. Now, though, spending time with the Pallid Princess had completely lost its appeal.

“No witty retort? Don’t you have one of your succinct little verbal stings for me, Calistria?” A smirk drew itself slowly across her face. “Oh, y’know what? I think I’ve cracked the case! You always have been a sponge for others’ morality or whatever. I think you’ve been spending too much time around the lil bird!”

Anger flared up in the pit of Calistria’s stomach in the same way it did during their encounter with Naderi on the train. She pursed her lips. She couldn’t tell which made her madder, the insulting implication that she was weak-wiilled (when she was anything but) to the point that she just copied the morality of others? Or the possibility that there might be some small grain of truth in what she was saying. “I don’t like where this conversation is going.” She turned to leave, deciding that she didn’t want to fix her makeup that much. 

“Birdie is here with you, right? If I remember correctly, Longnight’s you two’s special night, right?”

Calistria knew Urgathoa was just being coy. It was obvious when another deity was playing mortal in their proximity. Urgathoa had known they were there from the second they walked into the bar.

“A friend of mine and I decided to copy your little routine. Maybe she and I could join your little escapades? We could all get up to some lovely mischief. And I’d loooove to have a bit of fun with birdie.” She leered.”

The second comment about Shelyn was the last straw for her. Suddenly she had closed the gap between herself and Urgathoa, grabbing her by her long hair and whipping her head into the mirror in one fluid motion. The mirror shattered with a crackly of energy, but Urgathoa’s mortal form was unharmed. No blood was drawn and her expression hardly changed upon impact. The only sound was the shattering of the mirror. She pulled away from it, pushing herself away from the sink and raising her shoulders. 

“That was uncalled for.” She swung at Calistria with her heavy bag, the suture-covered leather monstrosity knocking Calistria into the sink. She swore as she sunk to the ground.

“Now, before you pull yourself up- if you retaliate, I’m gonna drop this mortal form like a cicada shell, and we’ll settle this like big girls. And I do not care what that does to the surrounding area. Everything reaching out to say, ten blocks from here is gonna go up in smoke- poof! And if anyone doesn’t get vaporized, I’m gonna sicken them. I’ll make sure the proprietor of this little dive that you and Shelyn like so much chokes to death on her own vomit. And it’ll be soooooo fun.” A laugh ripped from her mouth, and her shoulders shook with her cackling. “See, the thing is, if you were reaaalllyy, truuuuly unaffected by Shelly’s goody-two-shoes influences, you wouldn’t care. You’d just want to get hit me back for hitting you, collateral damage be damned. After all...you’ve never been the goddess of proportional response.” 

Calistria pulled herself up from the restroom floor. “I’m not going to bother dealing with you tonight.” An angry buzz filled her voice, making her almost unintelligible. She stormed out of the room, made her way into the main part of the gastropub, grabbed Shelyn by the wrist, and they both vanished in a puff of gold dust. 

They reappeared on an empty bridge, blocks away. Shelyn shuddered as they rematerialized. She looked up at Calistria with confusion and annoyance. “Callie, what the hell are you doing?! Why’d you do that? You know I don’t like being poofed like that with no warning! And you didn’t ask me first either! And oh my us, wait, we probably ruined that poor girl who was waiting on us’s night,” she paused her tirade, looking Calistria over. She stood up straight, staring down at the ground, yellow eyes watering, hands curled into tight fists. She trembled ever so slightly. “Callie...are you crying?”

Callie shook her head too quickly to be convincing. Shelyn waved her over. “C’mere, bumblebee.” Calistria walked over and hugged her, practically curling herself around her companion. Shelyn pet her hair, much like Calistria did to her on the train. “Wanna talk about it?”

\---

Back at the Not Peacock, Urgathoa continued to fume in the bathroom. Naderi materialized in the mirror, dragging herself out. The sopping wet goddess hovered, looking up at Urgathoa with half-lidded eyes. Urgathoa smiled and placed a hand on her cheek. "Hey there, Water Lily. Want to have some fun?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll update more regularly I promise 


End file.
